A Prayer for Teachers/School Administrators Returning to Work this Week



[Sign in Newtown, Connecticut.]

A Prayer for Teachers/School Administrators
from the United Church of Christ

God of Love… Thank you for every teacher who notices a child’s special gift. Thank you for teachers who are listeners and gentle guides. Thank you for teachers who expect much and love enough to demand more. Thank you for the special teacher each one of us remembers.

God of Mercy… Sustain teachers who give everything they have and feel abandoned when society expects too much. Strengthen teachers who assume the blame for so many problems beyond their control. Help exhausted teachers rest.

God of Strength… Encourage teachers to care and inspire them to nourish. Motivate teachers to keep on learning for the fun of it and to make learning fun for children.

We wonder at teachers who know how to quiet a class of five-year-olds or help fourth grade girls be empathetic. We admire teachers who enjoy middle school writers, or teach physics or math or civics.  

We cannot even imagine how to help every single student achieve Adequate Yearly Progress. Bless the people who are expected to accomplish these miracles and who know how to comfort children when miracles don’t happen.

God of Justice… help our nation find a way to steward our vast wealth to support teachers in their special calling, wherever they teach and whatever the race or religion or gender or wealth of the children.

We pray these things in the name of our great teacher, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon (December 23) "Outside the Box: Open the Gift of Yourself"

     Throughout this Advent Season, we have been opening a new Christmas present each Sunday.  We’ve opened a lot of gifts already; the gift of expectation, the gift of acceptance, and last Sunday, we opened the gift of family.

     For today, let’s have 9:00 am-Bronson Farley representing one of our elementary Sunday School classes 10:30 am-Evelyn Neeley representing our Sunday Shop Elementary Class ...open the Christmas box.

     Let’s see what is in the big Christmas box for today.  It’s probably going to be one of the best gifts since we’re only two days from Christmas!  What’s in the box?

(Opening of the Christmas Box)

     Before we get too disappointed at the empty box, turn to someone near you and say, “You’re the gift.”

     Yes, you are the gift for this Sunday!  We have been pulling out a different nativity display each week to symbolize the Christmas gift, but for this week, I realized that you don’t often see the innkeeper in the crèche scene.         

     In many ways, the innkeeper represents you and me in the Christmas story.   Sometimes in the busyness of the Christmas season and running around trying to think of everybody else, we forget that we’re part of the Christmas story too. 

     We heard a little about the innkeeper during our Advent candle lighting earlier in the service.  Well the truth is, the scriptures don’t have a whole lot to tell us about this person.  All we know is that there was no room in the inn.  Instead, Mary and Joseph had only one option on that first Christmas Eve.  They had to lodge where the animals were kept at night.  Mary and Joseph would have probably had to use their own robes and extra blankets just to keep warm.

     Sometimes I wonder if we brush aside the innkeeper in the Christmas story since we are told that there wasn’t any room for Mary and Joseph that night.  There is no indication in the story that the innkeeper had any idea about the holy child inside Mary’s womb.

     So what happened to the innkeeper in the Christmas story?  We don’t know.  But the more I think about whoever this person was, the more I think that this person represents you and me in the Christmas story.

     This innkeeper was right there.  I mean, he was right there with Mary and Joseph on that holy night.  Physically, he was as close as anyone to the holy family, but we’re not sure how close he was in a spiritual sense.

     This past summer, I was driving through a trendy section of community near Columbus.  It was around lunch time and I decided to find a parking spot and try out one of the restaurants on that block. 

     As I was enjoying my lunch, I thought of a good friend of mine who is a pastor of a United Methodist Church somewhere in that community.  After lunch, I started walking to my car which was parked by a building next to the restaurant. 

     I got in my car and as I started to pull out from my parking space, it suddenly dawned on me.  The building next to my car kind of looked like a church.  And sure enough, it was.  It was my friend’s church.  During my lunch, I was only about twenty feet away.  I was right next to it the whole time!  I was so close to missing it even though it was next to me the whole time.

     How can we be so close to something and yet be so far away?  This story has a good ending because my friend happened to be there that day.  He gave me a tour of the church, we had a great conversation, and we ended our time by praying for each other. That visit became a holy moment for me.  I left feeling renewed and encouraged.

     Sometimes, we can be right next to something that is holy and can make a difference in our lives, but unless we open the door, we can miss out on what God wants to give us.  I think this is true of Christmas.  We can be this close to Christmas and it can be happening all around us, but until we open ourselves in this season, we can miss it.

     The innkeeper was as close as you can get to Christmas.  The birth of Jesus happened right there in his own home.  I wonder if this innkeeper ever realized that this holy moment was meant for him as well.

     The innkeeper helps us to think about ourselves on this Sunday before Christmas.  Sometimes, we remember everybody else at Christmas time except ourselves and our own need to receive the gift of Jesus’ birth.  The innkeeper may not be in the crèche scene, but he was part of the Christmas story.

     Do you see yourself in the Christmas story?  Or do you see Christmas as only something that is meant for everyone else and not for you in a personal way? 

     There’s a United Methodist Church out in California that came up with a creative way to help everyone in the church and their community feel part of the Christmas story.  Let’s watch.

 

      We’re all part of the Christmas story, each and every one of us, including the innkeeper, especially the innkeeper.

     There was once a Christmas pageant at a small church in which the part of the innkeeper at Bethlehem was played by a high school student.  He was a quiet and polite boy, but the kind of boy who was a little awkward – in his manner, in his social relationships, and even physically since his growing frame made it difficult for him to find any clothes that fit.

     When Mary and Joseph appeared at the inn, he stood…awkwardly…in the doorway, slumping a bit toward the couple as they made their request for lodging.  He then dutifully recited his one and only line, “There is no room in the inn.”

     But as Mary and Joseph turned and walked wearily away toward the cattle stall where they would spend the night, the boy continued to watch them with eyes filled with deep compassion. Suddenly responding to a grace which, though not part of the script, he startled himself, the holy couple, and the audience by calling out, “Wait a minute.  Don’t go.  You can have my room!”

     By adding this extra line to the play, this boy reminds us that we all have an important part to play in the nativity scene.  God invites each one of us to participate in the Christmas story in a very real way.  Even the innkeeper can go off script and say, “Wait a minute.  Don’t go.  You can have my room.”

     In the Christmas story, nobody is left out.  Even the innkeeper can take more of a leading role.    

     Let’s do this one more time.  Turn to a different person this time and say, “You’re the gift.”

     You’re the gift on this fourth Sunday of Advent.  Of all the gifts that you wrap and open this year, don’t forget to open up yourself and invite Jesus to live in the room of your heart.

     I’d like to offer three important thoughts on making sure that we don’t forget to take ourselves out of the Christmas box this Christmas.

     The first way is by slowing down.  Easier said than done, right?  “There’s just two days left before Christmas.  What do you mean, slow down?”  I know.  It almost seems impossible to slow down in our frantic culture.  Not too many people are slowing down during this busy time of year.  But it’s necessary if we want to receive the gift of Jesus Christ in our own hearts.  When was the last time you spent time praying in a chapel or in a place where it was just you and God?

     I was on Facebook a while back and a friend of mine who serves as a pastor posted these words one day:  “On Saturday mornings I work in the office and spend time in the sanctuary praying and, when it’s my turn to preach, practicing the sermon.  Some years ago a serious inquirer asked me, ‘Ed, what do you do with yourself all week long?’ Well, the answer isn’t what any of us do all week long, it’s more like ‘anything God wants to do with us!’”  That was my friend’s Facebook post. 

     Slowing down and being still and experiencing the presence of God is the first way for us to personally receive the gift of Christmas this year.

     The second thing is to know what is and what is not important.  That’s not always easy to do.  Especially during the holidays, we can easily make the little things outweigh the more important things.  Don’t worry about trying to have a perfect Christmas this year.  Instead, focus on celebrating the perfect Savior.

     Slow down.  Know what is and what is not important. And last but not least, here’s a third way to help us not forget that we are a gift that is meant to be opened this Christmas.  Have a personal daily devotional time which includes prayer and a scripture focus.  Allow these daily routines of scripture and prayer to be how you center yourself during this holy season.  It’s a way for us to take a deep breath and soak in the meaning of this holy season.

     I wonder how the innkeeper reacted to the birth of Christ.  Did he welcome all the attention and the extra guests who came to see the newborn King?  Or was it more of an inconvenience to have those shepherds and onlookers stop by to see what was happening?  Did it have an impact on him personally or was this all something that he would soon forget. We don’t really know what happened to that innkeeper.

     Just remember, you and I have a part in the Christmas story as well.  This Christmas, may we each say, “Wait a minute.  Don’t go.  You can have my room.”

Bishop Gregory Palmer - Thoughts on the Connecticut Elementary School Shootings

Dear friends in Jesus Christ:

Together we are watching with a continuing sense of horror about the devastation unleashed in Newtown, Connecticut. Murder and suicide were visited in multiple locations in this self-described idyllic community. I need not rehearse for you here the details which we have and will continue to hear and consume from multiple sources. With thanks in advance for you taking time to read this short piece, I want to quickly invite you to tend to a few things with full confidence that some of these are already underway.

1. Pray. Please spend some concerted and focused time in prayer personally. Use your many worship services this weekend as an important venue for prayer for all of the victims, their families and the community of Newtown.

1. Talk. Talk in your small groups, Sunday School classes etc. about gun violence and the role that Christians and the church should play in helping all persons be shaped from the inside out by the Prince of Peace and the way of life he commends to us.

1. Engage. Connect with schools and other institutions in your community to assist in healing the traumatized that are in all of our communities but especially the victims of violence. All persons who live in real fear of violence (whether from mass shootings, war, domestic abuse etc.) can benefit from the ministry of healthy churches and healthy Christians. Indeed the tragedy of Newtown is an example of both domestic violence and mass public violence.

1. Make the Connections. This is an awesome opportunity for extraordinary preaching and excellent theology. Even a cursory reading of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke remind us that the birth of our savior came against the backdrop of oppression, threat and violence. Matthew especially reminds us that the baby Jesus lived under the threat of death from his earliest days. Luke is careful to remind us through Mary’s song and Zechariah’s prophecy that though the world is out of sorts with all manner of injustice and violence God in Christ is acting to put things right. And on that dear ones we have staked our hope of salvation and our future now and when time is no more. We have responded to a gospel that speaks and gives life in the face of death. May it be so in these Advent days.

Yours in Christ,

+Gregory Vaughn Palmer, Resident Bishop
Ohio West Episcopal Area - The United Methodist Church

"Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Our Advent Cry - In Response to the Elementary School Shooting

As we listen to the news regarding the tragic killing of children and adults at an elementary school in Connecticut, we are painfully reminded that we live in a broken and hurting world.  The Christmas specials on TV, the gift wrapping of presents, the staff Christmas parties, the caroling, and the preparing of Christmas cards are now seen in a much larger perspective, the perspective of a world in need of redemption.

The recent shooting in a Portland, Oregon shopping mall during the middle of the Christmas shopping season is still fresh in our minds.  What causes people to do such wickedness?

During the four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, many churches observe what is known as the Advent Season.  Advent is a time to help us prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. It is equally a time to help us prepare for his second coming when the world  will be completely renewed and made whole as God had always intended. Many churches and Christians bypass Advent and go straight to Christmas.  A friend of mine said that he was visiting in a church the Sunday before Thanksgiving and they were already singing Christmas carols!

Advent is a time of longing for a better world, a world that is filled with God's justice, love, and peace. On Christmas Eve, we will sing "Joy to the World," but not now.  During this season each year, we hear scriptures which speak of that time when God's people were sent into exile. We also hear prophets like Isaiah who offer words of hope that God has not forsaken them and will fulfill his promises for a better world.

The people of Israel who were living in exile waited in hope for God to bring them home.  The Season of Advent helps us to wait in hope especially as our hearts our broken over the senseless killings of innocent people in an elementary school. Like the people of Israel, we wait knowing that one day, God will make all things new.  One day, this world will be a place where there will be no more shootings, no more pain, no more suffering, no more sin, and no more death.

A manger holding a crying baby in Bethlehem will be a sign that the Savior has come into our broken and hurting world.  We will celebrate that wondrous event just days from now.

But for now, it's Advent. We cry, we pray, and we wait with hope.

Sermon (December 16) - "Outside the Box: Open the Gift of Family"

     I would guess that many of us have already opened at least one Christmas present even though Christmas is still over a week away.  Our church has been opening Christmas presents together during this Season of Advent.

     We started this two weeks ago when we first opened the gift of expectation.  Advent is a season of expectation.  It’s a season for us to expect and anticipate the new thing that God is going to do through us.  Mary, the mother of Jesus is the symbol for this gift of expectation. 

     What is the new way that God is going to help us experience the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ this year?  What is the new way that God is going to help us share God’s love with the people around us? 

     Last Sunday, Pastor Cheryl helped us open the gift of acceptance.  Joseph from the crèche scene is a symbol of this Christmas gift.   Joseph was presented with an unbelievable situation to accept or not accept the news that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit. He could have walked away from the situation since it didn’t make sense, but he chose to accept this new way that God was breaking into the world to be our Savior. We too, have a choice this Christmas to accept or not accept this surprising and life changing news.  

     So let’s see what early Christmas present God wants us to receive on this third Sunday of Advent.  Let’s have 9:00 am-Ryan Black representing one of our elementary Sunday School classes 10:30 am-Sarah Mikesell representing one of our elementary Sunday School classes to open the Christmas box. Today, we open up the gift of the shepherds!  The shepherds symbolize the gift of family.

 

     To help illustrate what I mean by the gift of family.  I want to share with you a picture of the McDowell family one year when we were all able to be together for Christmas.  At this family Christmas, my mom, my brother, my two sisters, a brother-in-law, nieces, a nephew, Penny, me, a friend of the family are all together for this Christmas family photo.  This is a fairly typical Christmas family photo, right?

 

     Now, in contrast, take a look at this family Christmas photo from 2,000 years ago.  There’s Mary, Joseph, and their newborn, Jesus.  That makes sense.  But who are these other guys?  They have no connection with the Mary and Joseph family. Before that holy night of Jesus’ birth, they had never even met.  What are they doing in this Christmas photo album?

     Well, we know them as the shepherds who on the night of Jesus’ birth were watching the flocks at night.  And while they were out shepherding, some angels came and told them about the birth of a Savior in the town of Bethlehem.  With great haste, they hurried to Bethlehem and found the holy family and baby Jesus lying in a manger.

     I wonder what that must have been like for Mary and Joseph.  Wile they were trying to have a special moment with their newborn, these shepherds barge in and just kind of make themselves at home.

     This reminds me of a time this past summer when I went to visit some of our church members in the hospital.  The hospital has a really good system to help you know who from your church is in the hospital.  You give them your church code, and they will tell you if anyone from your church is in the hospital.  When you’re admitted as a patient, you have the option of including the name of your church, if you want your church and your pastor to know.

     So anyway, the person at the desk gave me some names and I didn’t recognize one of the names at all.  She was a patient in one of the maternity rooms.  So I knock and come into the room and I meet the proud new father.  And I ask how everybody is doing.  He says, “We’re doing fine.”  His wife was not in the room at the time so just the two of us spoke. 

     He was so excited to tell me about their little baby boy that was born earlier that morning.  He told me the first and middle names and how big he is.  And in the middle of our conversation, a look of confusion came to this father’s face and he asked me, “Now, who are you?”

     I had shared my name at the door before coming in but I don’t think he had heard me.  So I said, “Pastor Robert McDowell at First United Methodist Church here in town.”  And now, he looked even more confused.  I asked him if he was connected to our church and he said, “No.”  It was that awkward moment, you know, when you realize that you’ve invaded someone’s space.

     So I told him that the people down at the desk had their name connected with our church which was why I was visiting.  I asked him if they had a church home and he said that they didn’t.  And so I invited them to visit our church sometime and that we were running a special on baptisms if they were interested.  At least I didn’t hand him a box of offering envelopes!

     But this new father was so nice.  Even though there were those few seconds of awkwardness, he thanked me for stopping by.  And that made me feel so much better.  So, I offered to say a prayer for the gift of his baby son and he was very grateful.

     For a moment there, I felt like one of the shepherds, uninvited, but present with this new father on the occasion of the birth of their first child. I left there with a smile on my face as this was yet another example of how God brings people together to celebrate holy moments in surprising ways.

     What makes the holy family Christmas photo amazing to me is that not only that there are strangers in this picture, but that these strangers are shepherds.  In Jesus’ day, the shepherds were the equivalent of transient drifters and street people.  How incredible to think that these are the folks who appeared at that first Christmas scene! 

     This is why the shepherds represent the gift of family during this Christmas season.  God’s idea of family includes more people than we can ever imagine.  God has a way of breaking down the artificial barriers that we so often create in our world.

     Notice that the shepherds were invited guests to the manger scene.  God sent angels who appeared to them and invited them to be part of this holy moment in Bethlehem.

     Have you ever noticed that God is always inviting people who are on the outside to come in and be family?  God has a special concern for the dispossessed, the marginalized, the poor, and the forgotten.

     At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he gave us his mission statement in which he quoted from the prophet, Isaiah, our Old Testament reading, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.”  Jesus’ ministry was one of including more and more people in the family of God.

     Who in our families, in our church, in our schools, and in our neighborhoods are forgotten people?  Who has been pushed aside to the edges of society?  How do we respond?

     Doylestown United Methodist Church here in Ohio has a ministry that helps more and more people feel included in God’s family.  Let’s watch.

 

     When we open up the Christmas gift of family, we leave behind the comfortable and the familiar so that we can venture to places that are new to us.  God calls us individually and as a congregation to reach out to more and more people with the love of Jesus Christ.

     We reach out with God’s love, compassion, and concern.  We reach out and witness to the birth of Christ again, again, and again.

     I look around and I see so many examples of where we are inviting more and more people to be part of the manger scene.  I see greeters on Sunday mornings, welcoming people into this place.  I see people serving hot lunches to folks in our fellowship hall throughout the week and listening to their stories.  I see people who are new to our church family because you invited them to worship.

     This season, let’s remember the shepherds, the forgotten ones, the people who are often on the fringe.  All are welcome to the manger scene.  We are all God’s special and honored guests.  God cares for all people. Nobody is left out.

     Open the Christmas gift of family.

Dave's Deep Thoughts - Weird Christmas Traditions

 

There is the naughty list.

There is the nice list.

But let's not forget the nutty list.

 

Through the years,

many traditions have evolved across the world

to celebrate Christmas

 

Some are born directly out of the

celebration of Christ's birth in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

 

Others have secular roots that

foster the seasonal spirit of joy and hospitality.

 

Then there are others that, well,

just might make your head spin.......

 

Try Christmas in Japan.

Good luck getting a seat at a KFC restaurant on December 25th.

A traditional Christmas meal in the land of the rising sun

is a visit to the fried chicken king.

You'd be smart to make a reservation.

Just be sure you know if you want your Christmas to be regular or extra crispy.

 

How about Norway?

Good luck finding a broom on Christmas Eve.

Brooms & mops are hidden by mommas so that evil spirits

can't take them to use as a mode of transportation.

For good measure, Papas go out

to the front lawn

and shoot  off their shotguns to scare those evil spirits into the next county.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like dirty floors and a round of artillery.

 

Speaking of evil spirits,

don't leave out Finland.

Where can you find most Finns on Christmas Eve?

At church services?

Around family tables?

No, try saunas.

Saunas on Christmas Eve are packed

as Finns believe that sweating helps remove evil spirits from the body.

Nothing says Happy Holidays like perspiring in a wooden box packed with friends and strangers.

Wrapped in swaddling clothes?

Oh no, the Finns will just take a towel please.

 

In Slovakia and the Ukraine,

they give a new meaning to food fight.

At Christmas Eve dinner,

the head of the household takes a spoon of Loksa

(a traditional Christmas dish made out of bread, poppy seed filling, and water)

and throws it up at the ceiling.

The more of the mixture that remains glued to the ceiling,

the richer his crops will be the following year.

Of course, it is the women that have to clean up the mess

and repaint the ceiling while dad is hitting the egg nog.

Let's not even think about

what the toddlers in the high chair are throwing to celebrate the nativity.

 

In the town of Gayle, Sweden,

they observe the beginning of the season

by erecting a 60 foot goat made of straw.

The goat is then burned on Christmas Day to the cheers of the townspeople

who are obviously anti-goat.

In recent years,

vandals have made it their goal to burn the goat before Christmas day,

thus instilling a new tradition of townspeople signing up on shifts to guard the goat.

Since 1966, the Straw Goat has survived until Christmas Day only 10 times.

People disguise themselves as Santa Claus or elves to get past the guardians and ignite the straw monument.

In some parts of the world, wise men follow a bright star.

In Gayle, Sweden, a burning goat will suffice.

  

Let's not think that the northern Hemisphere has the market on nutty.

Take a visit a to Caracas, Venezuela

and you will see parishioners headed to church services......

on roller skates.

 

Oh it doesn't stop there.

 

Children, as they are put down for the night

have a string tied to their big toe,

with the other end of the string dangling out the window onto the streets.

That's so all the roller skaters can whiz by and pull on the string.

So much for children all snuggled in their beds for a long winter's nap.

 

Let's not think that we Americans have completely evolved either.

In Los Angeles,

there is the giant mistletoe dangled by King Kong

so that lovers can get that extra big Christmas kiss.

I will just leave it at that.

 

Christmas traditions all have place and meaning.

Some honor the birth of Christ.

Others seem to have more to do with things far removed from Christ.

 

Traditions are not good or bad in and of themselves.

They are rituals that bind families and cultures together.

 

But they can also blind us to the very source of the celebration.

What traditions do you observe that just might seem nutty to Christ.....

 

Shop till you drop?

Max the credit cards?

Eat more calories than are needed to fuel a body for two months?

Put up enough exterior decorations to embarrass Clark Griswald?

Consume more alcohol that extends beyond healthy consumption?

 

We all have our traditions.

The question is, do your traditions encourage or discourage what is at the heart of Christmas

which is........

 

Let every heart prepare Him room.

 

That is after all, why He came.

Burn your goats,

skate to church,

enjoy extra crispy chicken...........

Just don't forget to embrace Him once again

so that you may live for Him.

 

Speaking of nutty traditions best avoided,

next time, I'll tell you about Aunt Bertha's fruitcake.......

 

"And the Word became flesh,

and dwelt among us,

and we beheld His glory,

glory as of the only begotten from the Father,

full of grace and truth."

John 1:14

Sunday Worship Preview - December 23

Sunday, December 23 - (9:00 & 10:30 Services, Corner of Wheeling & High Streets) & Wednesday Worship Resumes January 2 (6:30 P.M. Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "Out of the Box: Open the Gift of Yourself"

Features - 4th Sunday of Advent & Holy Baptism

Scripture - Micah 5:2-5a & Luke 1:39-45

Theme - This Christmas, we have a new opportunity to be renewed by the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ. We are invited to come into the light, be seen for who we are and join Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds in the manger scene.